The Evolution of my Packaging

I was having a chat the other day with someone on the importance of branding and packaging. They are just at the very start of their business and didn't seem to see it's importance. This got me thinking about the evolution of my own branding and how it has changed over the years. 

Even though I come from a graphic design background when it came to my own business I can now see looking back that I had a very lax attitude towards packaging. This was mostly to do with budget, and that my products all evolved organically. Because of the nature of selling at a weekly market I found myself selling new designs before I ever gave myself time to think how to display them. I had an attitude that it would work itself out in the end.

Thankfully I eventually copped on, and since starting at the Milk Market there has been an extra onus on being more professional. Since this transition I can really see how my identity has developed. Most notably one major factor was having readily available labels to make at home. About 2 years ago I bought a printer and a laminator, this added to the fact that the €2 store started selling good quality printable stickers. This has meant that I can play around with label design on my own time to suit each product. I've also started to add my logo to a lot more items, like my cards. This simple step has really increased my card sales, as it states on the back that they are handmade in Ireland. I had always made the assumption that it was obvious that I made them, but apparently I was wrong.

I've also invested in a range of jewellery boxes that match my blue colour scheme, I got them in various sizes for my different items, and they have really helped to market them as gifts. The little bit of extra investment in these display boxes has meant a boost in sales that i wasn't expecting.

I'm more than a little embarrassed to show you one of my original display boards and packaging from back at the very beginning. See how the brooches are lost inside the plastic bags? Also having them on a black background looks terrible and kills all the colour.

By contrast this is a more recent display, notice how I put the brooches on cards so people can touch them and appreciate the texture.

Getting stamps made for your bags is a great way to reinforce yor brand, although without a large stamp pad it can be quite labour intensive. For the shop we will be getting stickers for our bags which was much more affordable than I thought. I think I'll invest in some Nice Day Designs bag labels for my Christmas sales!

I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong. What I had thought the reserve of big businesses actually applies to everyone no matter what their size. Consumers are used to and demand a high level of branding and packaging, during our shopping lives we make millisecond decisions all the time. Why add any more barriers to the shopping process? If people have to search for a price, figure out what something is, or how it works they'll probably decide to walk on instead. Good packaging and branding is about sending a message and trying to make the buying process more attractive. I can see that the small investment of time and money has really helped me, and has encouraged me to look for ways to keep on improving.

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15 Tips for Using Pinterest

I mentioned last week that I would write up a guide to Pinterest, it seems like my Timeline and Blogging articles were popular so I might as well continue imparting my nerdy skills. If you are at all involved with crafts/design you will probably have heard of Pinterest, that is if you are not already a member. It's a website where people share their taste via virtual pin boards, basically it's like bookmarking with pictures in a shared community. For designers it's an amazing resource for two reasons, one it's fantastic for research and information; I've learned tonnes of new techniques for both crafts  and computers since joining. Secondly it's as a way of sharing your own creations, I 'pin' most of my blog posts and some of my etsy listings so my 'followers' (and virally millions of others) can see them. Even though it has one twentieth the users as Twitter it generates nearly the same referrals, which just shows you the power it has to generate traffic for your brand/website. I've been addicted since before Christmas (go here if you would like to follow me) so I've learned a few things along the way:


1. Set up an account;
For some weird reason the site is still invite only, but you can either request one when you go to Pinterest, or if you leave your email in the comments section I can send you an invitation.


2. Don't just repin;
There are two ways to pin; either by repinning an item that someone else has pinned or by pinning something new to the site. After you've been on the site a while you will see lots of the same tutorials floating around, the community depends on people adding fresh items or it's gets stale very fast. Some of the hardcore Pinners say you should contribute 1 new pin for every 5 that you repin. But I'm gonna be realistic and say that I do 1 for every 10, I see way too many cool things not too. You can install the pin button on your tool bar that makes pinning cool stuff from the internet really easy.


3. Pin with the correct link:
After a while you will notice that not everyone knows how to use Pinterest properly and that some images don't link to the proper site, as a user this is insanely headwrecking!! Please don't be one of those users. For instance if you are on a blog and you see a great post, don't just pin the whole site and click the picture you like, you have to click into the link of that individual blog post and then click your 'pin it' button. Otherwise other people will be brought to the main site rather than that specific post. I hate it when I see a pin for a fantastic tutorial and then I can find the page. Another thing that people do is pin images directly from Google images, giving that as the referral link rather than the website, leading people to a dead end, which is also really annoying and breaks the rules of Pinterest.


4. Find a lost pin: 
If you get stuck in the above situation but you really really want to find the source there is a way. Right click on the pin, then 'open image in new tab', right click on that and 'save as'. Open up Google Images and drop the file into the search bar, it will then give you a list of sites that this image has appeared on (this is also a good way to see is anyone stealing your images online without permission).


5. Organise your brain and your browsing:
I used to use bookmarks but I really hated them as I always lost sites of forgot what I named them. Pinterest is fantastic for sorting out this kind of information. I have a board for loads of helpful articles for selling online that includes loads of marketing tips that I can refer back to when I need them. The same goes for card making, sewing tips and cookery. Now when I sit down to make cards I take a look at my board first and scan for inspiration(just like I do with my scrap booking magazines). I also keep a cookery board, so if I can't think of anything to make for dinner I can take a peek at my board and see if anything takes my fancy. I use Pinterest as a place to store ideas until I need them. 

6. Add text to your image;
This is something I haven't quite gotten in the habit of doing yet, but I see it used a lot to great effect. If you are doing a blog post that you intend to pin, or something useful that you would expect others to pin then add text to one of the images. For instance for my blogging article I made images to go with the piece and included the phrase '20 blogging tips' in the picture. There is a pin description, but sometimes people leave this blank, for these instances your pin will still have an explanation embedded into the image. Another tip I read was also to include your website address in the image. This has two benefits; 1.If the link gets lost along the way or someone pins it incorrectly then people can still find your site. 2. It creates brand awareness on Pinterest, if your posts get popular people will start to recognise that brand.


7. The ins and outs of linking to FB and Twitter;
I have to raise my hand and say I learned this info the hard way. In my settings I linked my account to my Facebook timeline, thinking it would show on my page; not knowing that it would update all my friends about each pin(can I add that I'm addicted so that's a lot of pins). When pinning something it gives you the option to share on Facebook and Twitter, you can do this sporadically so you don't spam all your friends. At the start I was frustrated that I couldn't share to my business page, but I figured out how to do it. After you pin something a box appears asking if you want to share your pin, click the Facebook one, then go to your page in the drop down menu.


8. Write good descriptions;
Writing a good description makes it easier for people to search for this item. Even though it's tempting to write 'amazeballs' as the descriptions, ''chocolate sponge with caramel glaze,they are totally amazeballs cookery# baking# cake# chocolate#' will mean that more people will find it. I must admit that when I'm repinning I don't always edit them to make them better for searching, but it's worth the effort. You can also use the @ and # symbols like you do on Twitter.

9. New profiles;
Pinterest just changed their profile layout recently, and you can now choose what image represents your board. Just click the main image and choose your cover image from your pins. Pinterest users are very visual so try to curate your profile like you would an Etsy treasury, I thought about what images and colours matched each other. Also make sure to add all of your relevant links to your profile, I've stated following lots of new blogs and Facebook pages because I've been interested in their taste of Pinterest. I also added my business name in brackets after my own name just in case people don't know me as Ruth.


10. Find out who is pinning you:
I pin quite a few of my blog posts, but other people pin them too, and it's nice too see what is popular. Just type in www.pinterest.com/source/yourwebsitehere/ and you will see all the pins that link to your site.


11. Be Seasonal;
Every time a new holiday/season rolls around Pinterest is flooded with pins for that event, so at Christmas and Valentines there are endless recipes, present ideas, craft tutorials and shopping guides. If you are trying to promote your own seasonal wares or articles make sure to post them early so that they have time to circulate. Or if you like writing craft how-to's then think about the seasons ahead of time and write up some tutorials geared towards these holidays.


12. Share your profile;
Add links to your Pinterest on your blog and business page. Promote it just as much as the other sites that you are part of, if someone finds you on one platform they will want to know where else you are. Make it easy for people to follow you. I even mention that I'm addicted to Pinterest in my twitter profile. You can also add a link to your account to your email signature. Recently I started using social networking icons on my business cards and labels, and on my latest batch I added the P to represent Pinterest.


13. Add the Pin It button to your posts
Sometimes you will see a little red Pin It button on blog posts, this is just like a facebook or twitter sharing button. You can go here to get your button and just paste the html into you post template so that it appears in each of your blog posts like a signature. You can find this in Settings, and then go to blog posts, and paste in the html.


14. Pinterest is a community
You are able to like and comment on pins just like on Facebook. To take part in the community more comment on other peoples pins to interact with them. You can also use the ' symbol to tag another user if you see something that you think they might like, or to let them know you are talking about them. I must admit that I'm guilty of not doing this, but I'm very excited when i do get a comment because it happens so rarely!

15. Set a timer/limit;
Be warned Pinterest is incredibly addictive, and time can easily fritter away. Because of the nature of the site it always leads you to more sites, with more cool stuff, with other links, and so on. They estimate that the average regular user spends 1 hr 17 minutes on it per day. To stop yourself whiling away the hours looking a pretty things set a deadline for yourself, trust me I've learned the hard way.

Helpful Links:
Pinterest deconstructed infographic
Guide to Pinterest infographic
Marketing tips for Pinterest
How to find the original source on Pinterest
7 Ways to use Pinterest
and saving the best til last...
The ultimate guide to Pinterest

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Branding and Packaging

I've been humming and hawing for ages about ordering small jewellery boxes, I couldn't decide if I wanted to go with Kraft, white, or blue boxes, or even who to order from. After lots of research I chose to go with Box Displays, and I'm delighted I did. I ordered 200 of these 8cm cotton filled shiny teal boxes and it only came to just under €68 including postage. Not only that, but they arrived freakily fast, I ordered them late on Thursday and I got them Friday morning, pretty amazing huh?

Since I'll be using them in the craft shop for my brooches and necklaces I wanted to put my personal stamp on them. I've seen lots of people wrap a white paper label around on the top lid, which looks great, and I was just about to do this when I remembered that I have sticker paper. I got packets of 10 sticker sheets in the €2 shop for only €1.50, and they work in my home printer. I whipped up a few layout sheets in Photoshop, making sure that all on my website/online details were on them. I also made little labels to go under/over the pieces to explain what they are. After lots of chopping and sticking I packaged all of my new jewellery and I must say I'm pretty chuffed with the result. They look so much better than the labels I was using previously. I've also discovered that people really like getting pieces in a box as it's already gift wrapped, and it makes the piece look more substantial.

Old packaging

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Marketing Your Business

People always ask me for tips when they are starting out their craft business, and a few times I've met people for coffee to give them a detailed idea of what I do and to  how about going about it. A lot of the time people find the social networking  and branding side very difficult as it's not something they are used to. Many crafters that I know want to make pretty things all day long, but don't know where to start when it comes to marketing themselves.

About a year ago a met a lovely woman Eva Birdthistle through the market, as we got chatting at the stall she told me about her marketing and branding business. She mostly works with small companies and more often than not with artists and crafters. I asked her to send me on some info about her business so I could post it here. I figured that a lot of my readers are in the creative industry and might want some guidance when it comes to marketing/branding and creating a web presence:

MandPh is an outsourced marketing and photography service tailored to our customer’s needs. We look after a number of marketing services for clients such as:

·         Brand development & optimisation

·         Website production & management

·         Electronic direct mail production & reporting

·         Marketing literature design & production

·         Campaign management

On the photography side we provide high quality images suitable for brochures, websites, marketing literature and all your image requirements.

Our customers are mainly in the arts, theatre, crafts and leisure industries such as Áine Knitwear, Orchard Theatre Co, Limerick Youth Theatre, Funderland, Castles Limerick, Grow Roots.

Contact Information:

E: info@mandph.com

W: www.mandph.com

T: 086 3817677

Some of our work:

Images for Áine Knitwear

 Poster, Images and Website for Orchard Theatre Co www.orchardtc.com

 Business cards for ChefBillyBird

 Head shots for Grow Roots

 Poster and Images from Limerick Youth Theatre